"Multiple" new Sonic games planned for 2021

That doesn't make it okay. Like I said, celebrate what you like as much as you want. Heck, dunk on the parts you DON'T like in good measure. But don't be callous to actual PEOPLE. It sucked when classic fans did it, and it sucks now.

And this is such a minor, fan-wanky issue that I'm gonna spoiler tag it, but:

Spoiler

"Meta Era" continues to be an egregiously poor descriptor. With the sorta-kinda exception of Generations (and even it gave in-universe justification for what it was doing), the only thing notably "meta" about the Sonic brand was the way Aaron Webber ran the Twitter account from 2015 to around 2018.

I think era descriptors need to be more objective than that, or at least more direct, which is why I never liked referring to any part of the series as the "dark age." "Classic" comes from Generations, "Adventure" comes from the name of the game that established the formula. So what's wrong with "boost era," anyway? Especially assuming we're not getting any more boost games.

On a much more important note: The journalist in me was incentivized to try and verify this. And uh... I can't actually find a source for where this leak originated. Or more specifically, I can't find Zippo himself posting it either on ResetEra or on Sonic Stadium, where I found he also has an account. The earliest instances I've found, weirdly enough, *both* come from the exact same MINUTE of the day on Friday: A Twitter user posted about it at the exact same time as someone on 4chan. It didn't gain any traction, though, until a much larger Twitter account posted details around 4.5 hours later.

Frustratingly, ResetEra doesn't let you see post history unless you have an account, but scouring around there, I still haven't been able to find Zippo personally linking to that blog. And the fact that he opens the post by explaining why he's suddenly breaking leaks HERE, and not on Twitter, just made me suspicious. Assuming anyone with a ResetEra account can find him linking to it, it'd be nice to at least tie him directly to the leak.

 

I checked, He didn't even have a single post in Reset Era about anything in like the last 10 days, let alone this rumor, so he didn't really gone and talked more about this, maybe he is distancing himself, given the reactions he can get sometimes which he already mentions in the blog post about this twitter account, but even in reset era it can be very toxic, as i can see from some reactions already.

 

For what it's worth, here's what Takashi Iizuka had to say 8 months ago: https://www.otaquest.com/interview-with-sonic-team-takashi-iizuka/

There's also a Classic Sonic comic coming from IDW this year.

The important thing is that they maintain the traditional Mega Drive Sonic gameplay for the 2D entries. The Mega Drive Sonic titles are Sega's crown jewels, probably the most popular games they've ever made and certainly the most acclaimed games in the Sonic series. It doesn't matter whether they use the old designs or current designs, whether they use pixel graphics or HD graphics, there's a strong demand for a Sonic game that plays like the Sonic games that everyone knows and loves.

 

Now that I think about it...
If ST has no intention of bringing up Classic Sonic again...
There goes my hopes of a HD version of the classic games.

Well, I still hope for a potential revamp of the classic games, MK9 Style xD

 

As someone who really only cares about the main five MD/MCD titles and Mania these days, I've washed my hands of the idea of the franchise being catered to people like me. It's not. But that's okay.

Mania was lightning in a bottle. I'm just pleased that it happened at all. I always assumed that it never would, so when I discovered that it was, it was really nice and I've always mentally filed it as "this will probably never happen again". Pessimistic? Sure. But in 2016, with 20 years of bad decisions by SEGA and Sonic Team, it seemed like a safer bet than hoping for a complete return to form. A real "don't be sad because it's over, smile because it happened" kinda vibe.

 

Oh wow, I didn't even see the "leak" post!

If that's true I'd actually be really happy. Obviously it all comes down to execution, but if we're going to be seeing a completely new 3D formula that isn't practically a spin-off like Lost World, I'd love that. The return of the spindash, a few characters other than Sonic, new non-boost style gameplay... It could very easily be garbage, but just the idea of trying something NEW (or perhaps a new take on something old) seems very promising to me.

The Dimps game sounds cool, too... honestly. I feel like they got a bad rep for Sonic 4, but the Advanced and Rush series games genuinely kicked ass. Would be really cool to see what they do with new hardware, and not being relegated to just make toned down versions of 3D console games. The return of Blaze as a playable character is on my wishlist, but I'd be elated to see anything similar to the Advanced series regardless of who's in the cast.

This is basically how I feel. I always hoped it would happen, and it did. Now I'd love for it to happen again, and they've laid the ground for it to happen again.. but we all know there's also a good chance it won't. Now just looking forward to the anniversary stuff, whatever it is.

 

When I have to constantly hear people trash anything that's not Classic Sonic on this site, it makes me somewhat less sympathetic.

So please excuse me if I'm not exactly willing to extend an olive branch that I've been denied for over 20 years.

I can understand people's gripes, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna forget about all of the shit people gave to Modern Sonic for the same reasons.

You said it yourself dude, toxicity breeds toxicity.

I don't mind taking the high road on a lot of things, but I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like this site hasn't given the modern branch of games its own level of shit for literally two decades.


For the record, I'm just as sad about potentially no more Mania as well, as it's pretty much the only game I've enjoyed from the series in the past few years. But I'm also aware that Sega can't capitalize on a good thing to save their life.

 

Spoiler

Thank you for pointing this out lol. I'd also argue that some of the most remembered moments from Sonic Boom are "meta", but it hardly describes the content of most of the actual games that were released. And the Twitter has kinda mellowed out now into something generally more wholesome, which I appreciate.

That's interesting that he makes a direct comparison to Sonic Advance, I've never seen that interview before.

Thinking about that rumor again, I don't think it's too far-fetched that news will be coming relatively soon. We do know officially about the show now as well as several VA changes after all, so it's only a matter of time I guess.

 

If what he said is to be believed, he’s staying away from social media, which includes forums. If he got on any of these (especially now) he’d be bombarded by Sonic fans so I assume that’s good enough reason to not post beyond his blog, lol.

 

Historically, big Sonic news for the year ahead tends to drop between March and May. And prior to that in the February to March, SEGA teasing things and tidbits of info may start to leak out. It was even supposed to be the case last year that there would be news of some description at SXSW and that just ultimately didn't pan out because of obvious reasons. So yeah, it's pretty likely that SEGA will start talking soon.

 

I do just wanna say, cause I realize I've started something...

I am fully aware dimps was never said once to be making another 2d sonic. I simply said that I'm excited at the possibility of their return (and let's be real, their last project was lost world 3ds, which came out in 2013. The only games released between then and now are forces and mania, so I think it's likely Sega may still have them on their radar for any multitude of reasons), yet people in here are running with the idea that they are making the next 2d game.

Please keep your expectations in check, guys, this is a rumor...

 

I’m fully expecting this to be fake just as much as I am to be real. But you know it’s nice to have something positive to imagine for once, so might as well see where it goes.

If it’s all not true, then it’s not like Sonic disappointing me will be new to me so what do I have to lose?

 

The leak sounds plausible to me, although if they really were against a Mania style game from the Mania devs then SEGA is just hilariously beyond hope.

 

Yeah, that was my takeaway the other day: it might, and has a good chance at being fake, but I like being able to have some cautious optimism for the franchise again, even if only for a little while. :P

 

My opinions about Dimps align more with Blue Blood and others in that their earlier stuff when they were doing their own thing was [flawed-but-not-the-worst-thing-ever]-to-[hey-this-is-actually-pretty-good]. But they got significantly worse once their projects shifted towards making handheld cousins of the console games, with the occasional "classic" episode in-between with Sonic 4. I like Advance 1, and I can give some positive credits to the Advance sequels and the first Rush. But for me, citing them as an example of Dimps still being able to put out good work has as much value as still having faith in Sonic Team because of the original MD games they made 30 years ago. In both cases, they were made by a team that no longer exists, and their design and quality is not reflected in the newer work that has since been put out. And I think said newer work they've put out (Sonic 4, Lost World 3DS) is among the absolute worst/insulting material--not only for Dimps, but for the franchise as a whole. I'm probably more adverse than most to Sega bringing them back for the following, though.

When I talk about them being the "chief 2D Sonic developer" I mean that in the sense Dimps, and only Dimps, are going to be our main source for any future 2D Sonic games. It doesn't matter what type of 2D Sonic project (Mega Drive, Advance, Rush, something new) Dimps are given; or if they understand/care about that style to begin with. Dimps will end up making it because Sonic Team refuses to make a new 2D Sonic in-house and Sega has almost never allowed anyone else to take up/share the mantle. Dimps have to date made ten games on their own, starting with the first Advance in 2001. There has only been half of that amount across three different dev teams (Backbone, Sanzaru, the Mania team of CW/HC/PWG[/HK]) across those past twenty years.

It would be a wonderful thing if that actually changed, where Sega brought in or established another team separate from ST/Dimps to carry the torch for Mega Drive gameplay, while ST/Dimps continues to do what they want for the Millennium gameplay department (another Advance, another Rush, etc.). But until that happens--barring the possibility of them making a fighting game, due to their experience in that field. The concept of Dimps re-entering Sonic game development does absolutely nothing for me otherwise.

Of course, assuming there's any real truth to this rumor.

 

I agree with @Josh that I find the distaste for Classic Sonic games kind of weird and it would be really awful if it's gotten so bad that even SEGA believes it. I'm not a classic Sonic fangirl. I love Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, as flawed as they are, and would be delighted to see a successor to those games. But the Classic Sonic games are...fun? You don't even need to get into how they are the foundation of the franchise or culturally significant, they are just good games and unlike anything else in the market, even in this day and age. So if they really are discarding Classic Sonic design to focus on Modern gameplay in 2D (whatever the hell that means), well that just sucks quite frankly.

 

Regarding Mania, i am glad it exists, it's such a great game, i am pretty sure SEGA realize that too given how they treated it, with post launch support and an expansion after a whole year, something that basically didn't happen to sonic games before, plus the animated shorts (Mania Adventures)
So...why seemingly we won't get Mania 2? people here seems to have that it is by some malicious intent by higher ups in SEGA cause they "hate" classic sonic and all that nonsense, but i have something else in mind.

That Taxman, and Evening Star as a whole, are busy doing their own projects, while they did masterful job working on Mania, i am sure they have their own ambitions that they want to work on, for me, i think that's better than seeing them just turn into Sonic games factory, causing them to burn out, if that didn't happen already when they finished Mania, maybe it was even the reason they established their own studio in the first place, to work on something new and different.

So, as much as i would like another Mania game, i think it's okay if it was the only game from that team, if the alternative was to risk burn out and possibly lesser products, or just getting tied to one franchise, i am willing to let Taxman and Co. do their own thing.

That only makes Mania that way more special.

 

That's just not how the market works. Game design is an incredibly competitive market and people would kill to get permanent jobs. Stealth has gone on record saying that he would love to work on Sonic but has had no offers from SEGA.

If they aren't working on Sonic, it's almost certainly because SEGA didn't offer.

 

Dimps would be a good choice for a Sonic fighting game, but I don't know why anyone would be enthusiastically invested in them returning to Sonic platform games. There were some bright spots, with the hugely enjoyable Sonic Rush Adventure being the brightest, but most of their Sonic output was mediocre, with some installments (Sonic 4) being outright bad. There are better suited development teams out there. It'd be fun to see what WayForward could to with the series, for example.